THERE IS a tendency to view Marin Catholic High's powerful football team in something of a tunnel-vision mode.

With all the hoopla surrounding Cal-bound quarterback Jared Goff, other positive aspects of the 10-1 Wildcats often slip through the cracks.

Granted, Goff — a 6-foot-5 senior slinger — deserves plenty of accolades with eye-popping numbers like 2,586 yards passing and 28 touchdown tosses. Still, there are other numbers to consider.

The Wildcats, in their last eight outings, have allowed only 57 points, a shade more than seven points per game. In other words, Marin Catholic is almost as hard to score on as it is to stop.

The mastermind behind the point-pinching Wildcats is defensive coordinator Peter Almlie, in his third season as a coach at Marin Catholic.

But don't expect a bunch of big talk or top secret strategic plans when discussing defense with the 31-year-old Almlie.

"He's really soft-spoken, a reserved, super humble guy," said Marin Catholic head coach Mazi Moayed, who has coached alongside Almlie for most of the last decade, including stints at Novato and San Rafael. "Peter deserves a ton of credit. We wouldn't have the success we're having without him."

Although Moayed says his defensive coordinator game-plans with the best of them, Almlie is a firm believer in coaching the basics. The operative word in Almlie's football vocabulary is "fundamentals."

"Defensively, we stress fundamentals," Almlie said. "Everything is about positioning and pursuit."

"Coach Almlie talks a lot about positioning and pursuit," Poksay said. "We all listen when coach Almlie talks. It rubs off on us all as a defense."

Moayed, who coached Almlie when he was a quarterback/free safety at Novato, has absolute faith in his defensive coordinator.

"Defensively, I let him run with the ball," Moayed said. "As far as game planning defensively, he does everything — 100 percent. He can do what he wants. The results speak for themselves."

Almlie is just fine with allowing results to talk loudest of all.

"He's a team guy and he doesn't care who gets the credit," Moayed said. "He's not one who tries to jump in the limelight. He's kind of a low-key guy, but he has such a big impact on our program."

Although Almlie's defensive buzzwords are positioning and pursuit, one other word should be added to the mix — preparation.

"We watch a pretty good amount of game film every week preparing for an opponent," Almlie says. "We study formations, plays, players and things teams do in certain situations."

Poksay knows all too well the importance his coach puts on studying game film.

"We break down film once or twice a week pretty early in the morning," Poksay said. "We go over plays the team runs, their whole blocking scheme and so forth. Coach has us well prepared for games."

As Almlie prepares his defense for a second-round North Coast Section playoff game Saturday against visiting Miramonte, he refuses to fall into a trap. The Wildcats opened the season with a 31-14 nonconference victory over Miramonte.

"We've seen their guys and kind of know what they do," Almlie said. "But you have to be ready. Not everything's going to be the same.'

Chances are Almlie will have the Wildcats ready for whatever Miramonte throws at them.

"I can't think of a situation where our guys on defense don't know what's coming from the other team," Moayed said. "Peter's a big time unsung hero. He does a great job for us every game."